Visit to Holy Cities of Shivakanchi and Vishnukanchi in India

There are in all seven cities in India that are considered to be very holy and giving heaven immediately after your death if you visit them even once, during your life time. One of these cities is Kanchipuram, situated in the State of Tamilnadu in Southern part of India. Many pilgrims come here for their holy pilgrimage and put forward their claim for eternal heaven before the god almighty. That is the reason why this holy city remains full of pilgrims from all the remote corners of India.

The tourists have to get down at Kanjivaram station located on Chennai -Madurai railway line. The holy city of Kanchipuram is only around 2 miles away from this railway station. There are two sections of this holy city. One section is called Shivakanchi and the other is called Vishnukanchi. Shivakanchi is the bigger section out of the two. The people following Lord Shiva visit Shivakanchi. However, people having faith in Lord Vishnu specifically visit Vishnukanchi. There is a large Amranath Mahadev temple of Lord Shiva at Shivakanchi. This temple is very ancient and conveys the history of last 3000 years. There is a large Sarvatirtha Kund just opposite to the main gate of the temple. The pilgrims proceed for the darshanas inside the temple after taking a holy deep in this Kund. There is one ancient mango tree here in the compound of the temple. It is said that Goddess Parvati had prayed for Lord Shiva below this tree, by standing on one foot for 12 years. Lord Shiva appeared here and hence, this Shiva temple was made at this place. The holy River of Shivaganga also appeared here from below the ground. There are in all 108 Shiva lingams here all around the mango tree. One of the Shiva Lingams is having four hands and is considered rare in the history of Hindu religion. There are two forts made all around the temple in order to protect the temple from Muslim attack in those days. There is a famous Kamaxi Devi temple built here. There is a large covered space made here with the help of 540 pillars. Hence, this place is called Sahastra Sthambh Mandap. There is another temple of Lord Shiva nearby. This temple has a solid gold seat for positioning of the Shiva Lingam. In addition to these temples, there are temples like Trivikram temple, Navgraha temple, Panch Tirtha Kund, and the temple of Adi Guru Shankaracharya. There is a big Lake, known as Tetyacoolam here. This large and beautiful lake provides a boating facility in all types of boats. It is really a pleasant experience to boat in this Lake, particularly during evening hours.

Vishnukanchi is located around 3 miles away from Shivakanchi. There are in all 18 Lord Vishnu temples here at Vishnukanchi. The temple of Varadraj Swami is the main in these temples. The East side Gopuram of this temple is having 11 floors and is one of the tallest Gopurams of South India. There is a large meeting hall in the West side of this temple having 96 pillars in which one artistic royal seat is put. It appears that the King was conducting his administration by seating on this seat, which is located just opposite to the seat of God. There is also a seat of Vallabhacharya here in Vishnukanchi. There is also a famous temple of Pandavas here at Vishnukanchi. It is said that Pandava brothers had stayed here at this place during their stay in forest. As there are quite a few famous temples located here, you need to stay for around couple of days here.

There are some reasonably good hotels available here to stay. They are Municipal Guest House, Traveler's Lodge, Rama Lodge, and Raja lodge. All these places are providing medium level facilities in their hotels at the rates of around Rs.400 ($10) per day. The only food varieties available here is South Indian style. It is very hot here during summer and the temperature can go as high as 112 degrees F. Hence, it would be advisable to visit this place during the winter months from October to February.

If any of my AC friends would like to book heaven after their deaths, it is perhaps a right time now that they think about visiting this holy city in India during their next trip to India.